Pliers



June 8, 194.3. N. SMITH 2,321,430

PLIERS Filed March 9, 1940 Patented June 8, 1943 U Ni TE D STAT E S PAT EN '1 EI CE PLIERS Norman Smith, Bronx, N. 'Y. Application March 9, 1940,-Serial No. 323,066

3 Claims.

This invention relates to pliers of the parallel jaw type.

It is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved tool which will have the maximum capacity and at the same time the maximum leverage.

With the fixed jaw type of pliers the capacity of the jaws is an inverse ratio to the pressure which can be exerted upon them.

It is an object of this invention to provide pliers having a capacity commensurate with that of pliers having a low leverage ratio and at the same time to exert a pressure commensurate with a higher ratio of leverage.

It is a further object to provide an instrument having different lengths of adjustment to give a wide adjustment to the tool combined with great ease of making the adjustment between the different ranges so that the tool may be used throughout its entire range while being manipulated with one hand.

It is a further object to provide a tool of the character described having a short arm lever pivoted to one of the jaws by a pivot which may be readily adjusted from one fulcrum to another so that the same convenient movement of the handle by the hand may be used to manipulate the jaws in each of the different adjustments.

The invention accordingly comprises an article of manufacture possessing the features, properties and the relation of elements which will be exemplified in the article hereinafter described and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a tool embodying this invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same.

Fig. 3 is a detail showing the jaws in one extreme of adjustment.

Fig. 4 is a similar detail, showing the jaws in the other extreme.

In the drawing the numeral It! comprises a handle having an enlarged head I l and terminating in a jaw l2. The head H is provided with a longitudinal slot therein extending from side to side having a dependent rectangular portion I3 and having at its upper end guiding ribs M. The other or movable jaw I5 of the pliers is carried upon a shank it having a depending rectangular I desired. Thereafter the portion l1 fitting within the rectangular portion I3 of the slot and having at its upper end grooves l8 mating with the guides I4 of the slot. The slot in the head H is open throughout the major portion of its upper side to permit the jaw IE to slide therein. The other handle 20 is pivoted to the handle In at 2| and has an outer arm 22 which is bifurcated to provide arms as shown at 23 to embrace the shank IS.

The shank I6 is provided with an opening 24 transversely through it, in which there is provided a plurality of teeth 25 separated by spaces 25. The arms 23 are provided with slots 21 and through the slots 21 and the opening 24 there extends a pin 28 and the shape of the opening 24 and the slots 27 is such as to permit the pin 28 to be raised from one of the spaces 26 over the ends of a tooth 25 into any other space 26 as may be desired and, as shown, the slots 2'! and the teeth 25 are so inclined that the pressure exerted upon the pin 28 by the closing of the handles l0 and 20 tends to force the pin 28 down toward the base of the teeth 25 to prevent its slipping out. In the head ll there is provided an opening 30 on each side thereof so that the pin 28 may extend outwardly of the device and terminate in heads 3| and 32.

With this construction it will be clear that by releasing the pressure on the handles l02il the pin 28 may be raised up out of any one of the spaces 26 and when the pin is in this raised position, the movable head carrying the jaw I5 may be slid to the right or left as may be pin 28 may be dropped into the space 26 corresponding to the new adjustment and the pliers are capable of operation as before but between a different minimum and maximum range of opening.

In Fig. 3, as will be seen, the pin 28 is in the extreme space 26 whereby the jaws of the pliers are brought clear together, whereas in Fig. 4 the pin is in the other extreme of its movement to give the jaws the maximum possible opening.

There is preferably provided a spring 33 bearing against the pivot pin 28 to urge the pin to the base of the teeth 25. This spring may take any conventional form. As illustrated, it engages the lever pin 2| and resiliently bears against the pin 28.

Since certain changes may be made in the.

above construction and different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A tool comprising a pair of handle members pivoted together, a jaw integral with one of said handle members beyond said pivot, and having a guideway and a slot transverse to said guideway between the outer end of said jaw and said pivot, a slidable jaw sliding in said guideway, said slidable jaw being provided with a slot therein parallel to the guideway, and having teeth on the side thereof adjacent to said pivot and extending toward said jaw, a pin, and a slot in the other handle member in position to carry said pin and permit it to be moved between said teeth at the base thereof or over the ends thereof, said pin extending through all said slots to serve as a pivot between the base of said teeth and the base of said last mentioned slot.

2. A device in accordance with claim 1, in which the first mentioned jaw has an opening therein through which said pin may extend to the outside, said opening being of a size to permit said pin to be moved from a point between two teeth to a point between two adjacent teeth.

3. A device in accordance with claim 1, in which the slot in the other handle member is inclined in a direction to hold the pin at the base of the teeth NORMAN SMITH. 

